Repost: The Anne Frank Tree

In November 2007, the Anne Frank tree was scheduled to be cut down to prevent it from falling down on one of the surrounding buildings, after a fungal disease had affected the trunk of this horse-chestnut tree. Dutch economist Arnold Heertje, who was also in hiding during the Second World War, said about the tree: "This is not just any tree. The Anne Frank tree is bound up with the persecution of the Jews." The Tree Foundation, a group of tree conservationists, started a civil case in order to stop the felling of the horse chestnut, which received international media attention. A Dutch court ordered the city officials and conservationists to explore alternatives and come to a solution. The parties agreed to build a steel construction, that would prolong the life of the tree up to 15 years.

But who is Anne Frank by the way?
Anne Frank began to keep a diary on her thirteenth birthday, 12 June 1942, three weeks prior to going into hiding with her mother Edith, father Otto, sister Margot and four other people, Hermann van Pels, Auguste van Pels, Peter van Pels, and Fritz Pfeffer, in the sealed-off upper rooms of the annexe of her father's office building in Amsterdam. With the assistance of a group of Otto Frank's trusted colleagues they remained hidden for two years and one month, until their betrayal in August 1944, which resulted in their deportation to Nazi concentration camps. Of the group of eight, only Otto Frank survived the war. Anne died in Bergen-Belsen, from a typhus infection in early March, shortly before liberation in April 1945.
After the war, the diary was retrieved by Anne's father, Otto Frank.

Posted: 11/08/08 6:17pm
Source: Wikipedia